Exhibit Celebrates 25th Anniversary of the
San Francisco Bay Trail

April 09, 2014 05:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Tues., April 22, the city of Oakland and the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) will host an event from 5:30 p.m. to 7
p.m. to celebrate the opening of Walking the Bay Trail: A Photo
Journal, a new exhibition at Oakland City Hall, One Frank
H. Ogawa Plaza, third floor. It will feature a welcomeby Mayor
Jean Quan, who also serves as an MTC commissioner. The featured
photo-journalist, San Francisco Bay Trail Trekker Kurt Schwabe, will be
on hand to describe his historic walk around 300-plus miles of the San
Francisco Bay Trail in 30 days. Attendees of this free public event are
invited to enjoy the photography exhibit on the third floor of Oakland
City Hall before or after the 5:45-6:15 p.m. welcome and talk. The
exhibit celebrates the 25th anniversary of the kick-off of
the Bay Trail Project, and is sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Trail,
MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The April 22 evening at Oakland City Hall coincides with Earth Day 2014,
and will also feature “Blue Trail: Imagination + Innovation for Ocean +
Bay Sustainability,” a presentation about Blue Trail, a visionary
art-tech-science initiative (http://www.bluetrail.us/).
The program will feature Blue Trail collaborators Lisa Zimmerman, a
placemaking consultant (http://7story.net/home.php),
and Oakland resident Jennifer Parker, founder/director of University of
California Santa Cruz’s OpenLAB (www.openlabresearch.com),
as well as Marisha Farnsworth, principal at Oakland-based Hyphae Design
Laboratory (www.hyphae.net).
The trio will present some of the highly imaginative designs for
interactive installations from Blue Trail’s design competition,
including Hyphae Lab’s “Hyperaccumulator Remediation Barge and Event
Space.”

About Earth Day Celebrations in Oakland

The photo exhibit opening and lecture on April 22 at City Hall serve as
part of City of Oakland’s month-long 2014 Earth Day celebration, which
also includes “Oakland Earth Day Park Clean Up” events at eight featured
sites on Sat., April 26, from 9 a.m. to noon. Visit www.oaklandearthday.org
for these and other events related to the theme “Oakland’s Working
Waterfront: Protecting and Preserving Our Productive Bay.”

San Francisco Bay Trail Background

The San Francisco Bay Trail was originally envisioned as a “ring around
the Bay” by then-state Senator Bill Lockyer, whose Senate Bill 100 was
passed into law in 1987 with the endorsement of the entire Bay Area
legislative delegation. SB 100 directed the Association of Bay Area
Governments (ABAG) to develop an alignment for the Bay Trail, as well as
funding and implementation plans for the trail. It was 25 years ago, in
1989, that ABAG adopted this plan for the Bay Trail. The following year,
ABAG set up the Bay Trail Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
planning, promoting and advocating implementation of the Bay Trail.
Lockyer’s vision has since become a reality, with the construction of
the Bay Trail well underway. To date, 330 miles of the 500-mile trail
have been completed. When completed, it will connect all nine Bay Area
counties. MTC is a major sponsor of the Bay Trail Project.

The Bay Trail increases public respect and appreciation for the Bay by
offering easily accessible recreational opportunities for hikers,
bikers, joggers and other outdoor enthusiasts, as well as offering an
ideal setting for wildlife viewing and environmental education. Among
its many benefits, the Bay Trail offers important transportation
alternatives for cyclists and pedestrians, currently connecting to
numerous public transportation facilities throughout the Bay Area, with
plans to expand these benefits by eventually crossing all of the major
toll bridges. To learn more about the Bay Trail please visit baytrail.org.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency
for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.